On the run in North Wales

 

Devon is very special and Dartmoor in particular has been wonderful to explore. But for us you can't beat the Vale of Clwyd - here's Vicky on her way up to the summit of Moel Famau on a sunny November day. We'd decided that it was time to return to Denbighshire. Our time in Devon was marvellous and we enjoyed our time there but COVID and associated travel restrictions were enough to prompt us to bring forward our move back home. Mind you moving house is fraught at the best of times but when different parts of the country are in different tiers and Wales goes its own way then it's a little more stressful, and on top of that our completion was delayed because of problems further down the chain of house deals which were at the top of. 

We've made it my lovelies!

Well would it all fall apart or were we on? Fortunately the transaction went through and thanks to the very accommodating family removal firm of Packfirst we made it back to Wales. They were a friendly bunch and they certainly took much of the hassle out of moving day - but it seemed strange to the ear to hear their round Devon vowels in Prestatyn!

And without further ado on our return to North Wales we managed to find a fell race! Having done just one race on Dartmoor in February that could definitely be categorised as a fell race I was having withdrawal symptoms, the chief of these being that my climbing legs had disappeared. This event on the Clwydian hills was our first entry into the night time Out-Fit Winter Handicap series - not feeling super fit in climbing terms Vicky and I decided to 'run with poles'. Having invested a couple of years ago in a set of British made Mountain King running poles I thought I'd take them through their paces. I thought they might be a bit cumbersome going downhill and maybe they were a bit but they sure helped on the last long uphill. There's a funny little loop at the top left hand side of the map and it was indeed a funny little loop which we're glad we got right.